When Kim Jong-il died in 2011, the world held its breath as North Korea entered uncharted waters. No other communist dictatorship in the last century – for that matter no other autocratic state that is not a monarchy – has been able to successfully transfer power to a third generation. Some analysts in Washington and elsewhere raised the possibility of the country collapsing in mere months.
But when that didn’t happen, a new theory arose – would he be the great reformer to lead North Korea to the community of nations? 8 years on, that has not yet happened either.
We still know so little about the North Korean leader – and so much of how we think of Kim Jong-un comes from media portrayals, the parodies, and assumptions amalgamated from our knowledge of other autocrats.
But a new book provides the first comprehensive and readable study of the incumbent North Korean leader. Written by the veteran Washington Post correspondent Anna Fifield, the exhaustively researched new book, titled “The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un” provides a more rounded picture of the first North Korean leader to meet the U.S. president.
Anna Fifield (@annafifield) came to KEI and sat down with KEI President Ambassador Kathleen Stephens – in fact, just before the Trump-Kim meeting on June 30, 2019 - for a brief chat.
North Korea's "Guerrilla Internationalism"
American Eggs-ports to South Korea
Keeping North Korean Human Rights in the Conversation
Korea's Role in Regional Financial Cooperation
The Debate over Video Game Addiction
Creating Consensus on KORUS
[Rebroadcast] How to Write About North Korea
[Rebroadcast] Behind the Scenes of South Korea’s Space Program
[Rebroadcast] Kevin O’Donnell: National Director of Peace Corps
Keeping up with North Korea
Korean Study Abroad on the Decline?
Should the U.S. be concerned about Chinese-North Korean relations?
Learning Korean and Supporting Seniors: SAY's Two in One Model of Teaching
Colonel Edward Forney and the Hungnam Evacuation
A Discussion with Charlie Rangel, Former Congressman and Korean War Veteran
Going Together to the Twenty-First Century: U.S.-Korea Cooperation on Science and Technology
How do American News Outlets Cover Korea?
Prepping for PyeongChang: Looking Ahead to the Winter 2018 Olympics
Visit Korea: American Tourism to South Korea on the Rise
Discussion with North Korean Defectors
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